When is it good business practice to invest for social good? What are the most innovative and effective business strategies for developing positive social impact around the world? Designed by renowned Wharton professors Katherine Klein and Chris Geczy to help individuals, organizations, and investors bring about societal change, this course introduces the fundamentals of impact investing, and developing a business strategy that drives social impact. You’ll learn how to become a leader who cultivates purpose and inspires change, measure societal impact through evidence-based models, and invest in ventures effectively and meaningfully. By the end of this course, you’ll have a deep understanding of the realities of leading an organization with purpose, and be able to build successful strategies that bring impactful change to the world.

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Awesome courses with great lecturers. It takes commitment and discipline to complete an online course. The lecturers really helped in keeping my interest alive.

DW

Jul 08, 2019

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Wonderfully packed with information and relevant examples. I personally found the Impact Investing portion fairly niche and a little harder to follow.

From the lesson

Module 2: How Business Drives Social Impact

What is the relationship between impact and financial performance? Does it pay for a company to drive impact? In this module, you'll learn various methods businesses use to create social and environmental impact. You’ll identify the different components of impact measurement: valence, focus, depth, breadth, and cost-effectiveness. With Nick Ashburn, Senior Director of Impact Investing of Wharton Social Impact, you’ll discuss real-life examples such as Starbucks, Campbell’s Soup, and Warby Parker, and the impactful decisions they made in employment, operations, and investment. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to refine the method in which your business can reduce environmental challenges and/or ensure fair and equal opportunity, and create a plan for your company to drive both impact and financial performance.

Taught By

Katherine Klein

Christopher Geczy

Transcript

So we've talked about how companies create impact or may drive impact through a variety of practices. Now let's talk about how they create impact through their products and services. So I should say that when I think about products and services that create impact, I tend to think about products and services that either have a positive environmental impact or products and services that essentially are now affordable to people who otherwise might not be able to afford those products. So I think you have a couple of examples for us. And I should say that sometimes we have products that do all of that, have a positive environmental impact and are affordable to people who might not otherwise be able to afford them. But what companies come to mind for you when you think about impact through products and services? Sure. So I think in the social enterprise and impact investing communities, a lot of folks have heard of a company called d.light. And d.light is a solar lighting brand for households and small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa that are off the grid. So they're not naturally connected to electrical services. And so this is solar energy. They're kind of-. Small, like the small lanterns that you keep them outside during the day. They have a little solar panel on them. And then at night, you can turn this on and you've got a source of lighting in a household that might otherwise only rely on kerosene or really not have any access to power and light of any kind. That's right. And I think that's the really important point around this product because light, is that impactful in and off itself? Probably. But also that it is a renewable source of energy. A lot of households in the markets where d.light operates, they use kerosene or charcoal, and so it's not as environmentally-friendly or healthfriendly for these families. Right, absolutely. And so this is an opportunity for them and they've really focused on this market for the impact benefits across all of those spectrum. And what I really like about d.light is if you go to their website, they talk about a theory of change. And so as a company, I'm not sure how many companies are thinking, if people use my product or service how will their lives improve? And d.light actually explicitly talks about that across a few different dimensions of well-being. Interesting. So financial freedom, so the financing to be able to access this solar energy. That's one thing. Productivity gains, so if you have more light in the house-. You can work more. You can work more, your children can study longer or read. Human health as we mentioned, so you're not inhaling fumes or smoke from other sources that you typically would find in these markets. And then the environmental health, lower CO2 emissions and other types of toxins going into the air. So they actually are targeting those outcomes and then they're measuring against that, not just the profitability of the company but then the outcomes. And my impression is d.light has grown quite a lot. I mean, I first heard about that maybe five, seven years ago and their product has continued to make inroads in lots of developing economies. Correct. Great. And then I think you have another example, Raise.me, as an interesting example of impact through a company's products or services. What's Raise.me? Raise.me is a company that we came across a few years ago through the Wharton Impact Investing Partners program that we run at the Wharton Social Impact Initiative. And what I really like about Raise.me is it helps students think about college a little earlier on in their high school process as well as the financing of college earlier on. Because what we do know is that access, going back to access and affordability that can be a barrier to students going. And then across the spectrum of socioeconomic status also you may not be thinking that you're college ready. Or by the time that you do start thinking about it, it could be too late in terms of your GPA or the types of activities you engaged in. What Raise.me really focuses on is bringing that earlier stage. So they have hundreds of colleges and universities on the platform, who already say, here's the type of student we're really looking for. We are looking for these types of grades or grade point averages. We're looking for people who show strong leadership skills, or they've done community service in these types of things. And so, what the platform actually enables you to do is get something called microscholarships. Microscholarships, okay. So if I'm a student and I'm going on the platform, I'm going to see all of these colleges and universities and what they look for. So I might say, I'm interested in this university A, University B and university C. And they're going to tell you what they're going to give microscholarships for. So, for instance, I might get an A in algebra II, I get $1000 microscholarship for that towards university A and C, maybe they are offering that. So that doesn't mean you actually you've got a thousand dollars in your pocket. It means if you apply to this university when in your high school senior year and you get in, the college has committed to give you that $1000 scholarship. That's correct. Yeah, okay. And so same thing it's not just academics, it could be maybe you took a leadership position on the swim team and you're going to get $500 for that. And so imagine if you start on the platform day one of your freshman year of high school, by the time you're a graduating senior or early in your senior year you're applying for college, you've built the profile that the universities are looking for and you're getting rewarded for that in terms of more affordable college tuition. Right. So this is really get a product or service that is helping create college access particularly for kids who might not be able to afford what college is costing in the United States? Exactly. Great. So how do they make money? Who's paying for this service? How is this a profit making company? Sure. So my understanding is that the colleges and universities are paying Raise.me a subscription fee to be on the platform because what Raise.me does for them is, this is a good marketing opportunity for the universities to reach students that they may spend more money on trying to reach on their own. Right. So it's a way for the colleges to attract more students. Yeah, more diverse students across gender, ethnicity, race as well as socioeconomics status. Right. So an interesting example. Do you think, Nick, when we talk about impact in the space, folks will often refer to companies as FinTech, Financial Technology and Financial Inclusion Technology, is this an example of EdTech, Educational Technology? Exactly, that's exactly what this falls under. Right. Great. Thank you.

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